AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 41 



grass, more curious than valuable. Its large, loose, delicate 

 panicles when dry, break off and sail away on the wind. It is 

 hence called fly-away grass. 



6. A. STOLONIFERA, var. LATIFOLIA, larged leaved creeping 

 bent grass, or Florin, Faureen of Ireland, has attracted much 

 attention in that country as yielding large crops of hay, from 

 four to seven tons per acre. Those who have marshes otherwise 

 useless, would probably find their profit in introducing this 

 grass. 



CYNODON. 



C. DACTYLON. Bermuda Grass. This plant is called also 

 scutch grass, dog's tooth grass, (a literal translation of Cynodon,) 

 wire grass. Messrs. Darlington and Thurber quote Sir James 

 Edward Smith, the botanical editor of Rees' Cyclopedia, as say- 

 ing, in the article PANICUM dactylon, that "This grass was per- 

 ceived by Mr. Lambert to be no other than the Agrostis linearis 

 of Koenig, Retzius and Wilkkvuow, the Durva of the Hindoos, 

 which the late Sir William Jones, in the fourth volume of the 

 Asiatic Researches, has celebrated for the extraordinary beauty 

 of its flowers, audits sweetness and nutritious quality as pasture 

 for cattle." This points to Hindostan as the native land of Ber- 

 muda grass. Yet London, on the authority of the English Bot- 

 anist in 36 volumes by this same Sir James Edward Smith and 

 James Sowerby, claims that it is a native of England. Here 

 seems to be a clash between Smith's Cyclopedia article and his 

 Botany. London's description is clearly that of Bermuda grass, 

 or as he has it, Cynodon dactylon. In the next line he gives 

 Cynodon linearis, as native of the East Indies and introduced 

 into England in 1796. His description of this plant does not 

 at all suit Bermuda grass. He says further, Cynodon linearis, 

 the Agrostis linearis of Koenig, is the famous durva grass of the 

 Hindoos, for which, see Lambert in the Linn, trans. VII, No. 

 22. v^ 



In the Department of Agriculture, Report for 1878, Messrs. 

 Geo. Vasey, Botanist, and Peter Collier, Chemist, state that 

 ''This grass is a native of Europe, and is abundantly naturalized 

 in many other countries. It is said to be a common pasture 

 grass in the West Indies." Hence I think it clearly evident that 

 Bermuda grass is neither the sacred Durva of the Hindoos, nor 

 a native of Hindostan, nor what Mr. Howard in his pamphlet 

 calls "the celebrated Daub sacred grass of India." It seems ev- 

 ident to me that Smith in the Cyclopedia article inadvertently 

 substituted the C. linearis for C. dactylon, and hence all the er- 

 rors about it since the, publication of Rees' Cyclopedia. Since 

 the above was written; I read in the American Agriculturist for 

 1880, page 64, "Bermuda grass, or Scutch grass in our southern 



